Testing the Increased Sensitivity and Energy Reduction of a Ground Fault Neutralizer for Wildfire Mitigation

Ground Fault Neutralizers build on the concept of resonant grounding by injecting a neutral shift with an inverter to rapidly turn a phase into a neutral. After installing one at a Southern California Edison 12.47 kV substation, staged fault testing was performed to confirm both the reduction in energy release and increase in ground fault sensitivity which this technology offers. This confirmed that it is capable of detecting ground faults down to a half ampere, dramatically reducing the peak currents on cable faults while fully extinguishing fault current on cable faults as fast as, or faster than, traditional ground fault protection. This high sensitivity and low energy release are consistent with the reported success of this technology at reducing wildfire risk at Australian utilities.